Incest defendant could be out in 14 years

VIENNA, March 20 (UPI) -- Josef Fritzl, convicted of charges in his incestuous relationship with his daughter, could be released from prison in 14 years, Austrian legal officials said.

Fritzl, 73, was sentenced to life in prison after being found guilty Thursday by a jury of murder, rape, false imprisonment and incest and slavery. He admitted to holding his daughter, Elisabeth, captive for 24 years in the cellar beneath his Amstetten home, fathering seven children. The murder charge arose from Fritzl's refusing to seek medical help for his infant son who developed breathing problems and died a few days after he was born.

Franz Cutka, chief of the court in St. Poelten, where the trial was conducted, said Fritzl would undergo therapy to try to "deconstruct" his behavior, Britain's The Daily Mirror reported Friday.

"There will be annual checks to see if he is healed and that would be considered by judges," Cutka said. "The sentence could go down to 14 years."

Fritzl will serve his time in the secure mental unit at Mittersteig jail in Vienna, where he will have access to his own shower, television and toilet and be allowed to socialize for up to eight hours a day with other inmates, The Daily Mirror reported.

News of Fritzl's prison arrangements prompted sister-in-law Christine Renner to say, "What right does he have to live like this after all he has destroyed? They should have put him in a pit, put a lid on it, locked it and thrown away the key."